Denmark says Russia hacked defence ministry emails

The group is also believed to be behind other high-profile cyber attacks.

Denmark’s Defence Minister Claus Hjort Frederiksen speaks during the official ceremony welcoming the deployment of a multi-national NATO battalion in Tapa, Estonia, April 20, 2017. REUTERS/Ints Kalnins

Denmark on Monday denounced Moscow’s “aggressive” behaviour after a report accused Russian hackers of infiltrating the defence ministry’s email accounts.

“This is part of a continuing war from the Russian side in this field, where we are seeing a very aggressive Russia,” Defence Minister Claus Hjort Frederiksen told Danish news agency Ritzau.

A report published Sunday by the Centre for Cyber Security accused a group of pro-Kremlin hackers of breaking into the emails of defence ministry employees in 2015 and 2016.

“The hacked emails don’t contain military secrets, but it is of course serious,” Frederiksen said.

The report identified the hacker group as APT28, also known as Pawn Storm, Sofacy and Fancy Bears, which has links to the Russian government and security services and has previously been named by the FBI and US Homeland Security as being behind “malicious cyber activity” against US government bodies.

In Denmark, the Centre for Cyber Security said earlier this year that the threat against Danish authorities and companies remained “very high”.

For more news your way, follow The Citizen on Facebook and Twitter.